Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina have co-sponsored an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act providing for federal funding for state election security measures.  While the security community has embraced this amendment, and we thank Sen. Graham for taking the problem of election security seriously in a way that attempts to respect state power, we have some concerns about this measure:

The Republican National Lawyers Association submitted a comment to the Presidential Advisory Election Integrity Commission (EIC). As we have previously posted and highlighted, the EIC was seeking public comment ahead of it next meeting on Tuesday, September 12th in New Hampshire.  

Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings for two circuit court and two district court nominees, along with the Eric Drieband and his nomination to head DOJ's Civil Rights Division. The district court nominees were largely left unquestioned, with Senator Feinstein stating that their records largely "speaks for itself."

In the Daily Caller, RNLA President Elliot Berke penned an article calling for the fair and swift confirmation of his friend and former colleague Eric S. Dreiband to lead the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division as Assistant Attorney General. Mr. Berke wrote the following of his friend:

Today, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced plans to phase out DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. DACA was a policy enacted under former President Obama as a benefit program for children who entered this country illegally and without documentation. In short, DACA is yet another example of the Obama Administration's repeated Executive overreach and interfering with the government's separation of powers.

The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, as part of its mission to serve the American people, is inviting public comment throughout the period of its work and particularly before the next meeting:

In the Daily Caller this week, RNLA Executive Director Michael Thielencalls out Senator Schumer and his recent blog post in the Medium which compared the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity to the racist riots in Charlottesville earlier this month. In his blog post, Senator Schumer announced his attempt to block and force the disbandment of the commission. Mr. Thielen explored the rationale for this undertaking by the Democrats:

Yesterday RNLA President Elliot Berke, myself, and other members of the RNLA Board attended the Peter Schalestock Memorial and Celebration of Life. It was fitting tribute to a great man and leader in the field of election law. In attendance were leading lawyers from the Trump Administration, current and former Federal Election Commissioners, current and former counsels to the key Republican committees, key Congressional Lawyers, and much more. It was a who’s who of the election law bar. All agreed Peter was not only a leader but one of the nicest men. 

In the latest episode of liberals turning to the courts due to opposition to election integrity protections and impatience with the legislative process, the ACLU has sued California over its signature matching requirement for mail ballots:

2014 saw a record-breaking Republican wave. Disappointed with Obama-era policies, Republicans had a net gain of nine seats in the United States Senate, the largest for either party since 1980. They also gained 13 seats in the House of Representatives, giving them their largest majority in the House since 1928. On the state-level, Republican Governors won two seats previously occupied by Democrats, a net gain of two seats.